Before Lin Ruoshan turned twenty, he was engaged to a girl with the surname Liu. That girl was the fifth child in the family, and everyone called her Fifth Mother Liu.
However, Daiyu had never heard anyone in the family mention this person who almost became her aunt.
In the beginning, Lin Ruoshan did not mention much about this matter in the beginning. He only wrote a few words, saying that this girl had died before she became an adult.
Since she was already dead, the Lin family had no interest in having a ghost marriage. Naturally, the marriage was dropped.
It was not until the end of the book that Daiyu saw a sloppily written article.
However, this article was not written by her uncle. Judging from the tone of the handwriting, it seemed to be written by a woman.
There were dried tear stains on the yellowed paper. It seemed to have been written in a hurry in grief.
The article was called: A Short Biography of the Liu Family's Heroes.
The person who wrote the first entry was called Liu Erniang.
.....
Liu Erniang was definitely not a talented woman.
She only knew a few words. Other than memorizing the Women's Precepts backwards, she was not blind.
However, she had been learning to be a housekeeper since she was young. She had always been gentle and obedient, a virtuous and virtuous lady. None of the womenfolk who had interacted with her family said anything bad about her.
When she was of age, there were so many people who wanted to propose marriage.
In the end, Liu Erniang settled on the eldest son of a family of officials with the surname Chen. That family had graduated from the imperial examinations. Although they couldn't be considered nobility, they were still a family of scholars. Their style of study and family style could be considered scholarly.
When she married over, her husband was competent and her mother-in-law was kind. Everyone in the family praised her for being virtuous. Although her mother-in-law often asked her to set rules, and although her husband had some relatives, it was not a hindrance.
Her husband was a scholar. Every day, other than studying, he dealt with matters outside and made friends. Occasionally, he would see her a few times, but he would just sit there and give orders for her to prepare some things.
In bed, it was nothing more than routine business. Other than that, there was not a single word spoken.
After all, Liu Erniang was a woman who stayed at home. As a woman who stayed at home, what was there to talk about?
As for what she thought, cared about, or liked, he did not care about them at all.
When they were newlyweds, it wasn't that they didn't love each other. However, that was just an idea that men used to pass the time. After a while, they would throw it away.
When a wife was married, other than carrying on the family line, she was also a proper decoration. She was someone who had to be filial to her parents unconditionally and give them some face. She was a housekeeper who managed the inner residence.
As for the people in the room, they were just a few vases that he used to vent his frustrations. He would play with them on a daily basis, so it wouldn't be a pity to break them.
Therefore, when she was dealing with the people in the room, except for a few people who were especially popular in front of her mother-in-law, her husband had never cared about them.
From her mother-in-law's point of view, she was just a woman who had been married to serve her husband. Because she was especially gentle, obedient, and well-behaved, he was satisfied with her.
Because of this, she became the envy of everyone, saying that she was blessed. Her husband respects her and her mother-in-law loves her.
When Liu Erniang sent letters to her family, she also said that she was blessed.
After all, all women nowadays were like this. How many people were inferior to her?
Ten years had passed in a blur and a muddle-headed manner.
Every day, he would be cooped up in the small courtyard, stung by the scorpions, and buried himself in the trivial matters of the house.
Then she slowly fell ill and died. Buried. When she died, she was in her early thirties.
Her life ended just like that.
The next year, her husband married a new lady who was just as gentle and obedient.
After Liu Erniang's death, her younger sister, Liu Sanniang, also died of illness.
Liu Sanniang was lively and nimble, and she married into a similar family. Her life experience was similar to Liu Erniang's, but she worked harder. Her husband's family wanted her to give birth to children, and she gave birth to one after another, but she couldn't give birth to a son.
Unable to bear the pain and depression, Liu Sanniang fell ill and died at a younger age than Liu Erniang.
There was an even younger Liu Siniang, who was even more unfortunate. Her husband died at a young age, and she became a widow at a young age. She didn't dare to eat more than a mouthful of food, afraid that people would say that she wasn't sad. She didn't dare to wear clothes with more patterns, afraid that people would say that she was someone who couldn't hold on to her husband. She didn't dare to sleep more than half an hour at night, afraid that people would say that she didn't care about her husband.
After living like this for about three years, Liu Siniang hanged herself. Her husband's family received a chastity memorial plaque, and they were so happy that they couldn't close their mouths.
There were four daughters in the Liu family, and three of them died in marriage at a young age.
She wrote to this point calmly, and it seemed that the writer couldn't hold back her grief anymore. There were already tear stains on the paper.
The handwriting below became more and more sloppy, as if she had written it with trembling hands. The tip of the pen changed abruptly, and she wrote about the life of Liu Erniang, Liu Sanniang, and Liu Siniang when they were still in the Liu family.
She wrote that Liu Erniang was gentle and quiet, but she was the best at painting, and liked to compare her painting skills with men outside in private. She wrote that Liu Sanniang made straw hats for her sisters and brothers, and she was so attentive that she didn't sleep at night. She wrote that Liu Siniang was familiar with poetry, loved to write poems, and liked to dress up. She was the strongest.
The three women, whose faces were originally blurry, like wooden and clay sculptures, suddenly became very vivid people.
Before they got married, they were still full of love under all kinds of rules, looking at the red flowers and green willows, and fantasizing about their future married life. They often teased and played with each other.
Unfortunately … there were so many Du Liniang throughout the ages, and the world's Shao Mengmei was pitiful.
Finally, the author wrote that when she went to Liu Sanniang's funeral, Liu Sanniang, who had been despised by her in-laws for not giving birth to a son, was lying in a pitch-black coffin. Behind her was a circle of family members carrying her seven daughters.
"It was a rainy day on the day of the burial. In front was Sanjie's coffin, and behind it were rows of servants carrying their nieces. Because I was weak, I was at the back. Suddenly, I heard the neighing of cows and horses by the roadside. When I turned around, I saw a family burying a dead cow in the wilderness by the roadside. Beside them were a few newborn calves with ropes. "
By the end of the writing, the ink had turned into large blobs of blurry ink.
Daiyu had always been quick-witted, and she understood 70% of what people said. When she read to this point, tears rolled down her cheeks.
She thought of what she saw and heard every day, and the female elders in her family, such as her mother Jia Min, eldest aunt, second aunt, and eldest sister-in-law.
Her mother Jia Min was a very talented person, but for some reason, when she came to her family, she was suppressed everywhere. Daiyu had never seen her happy since she was young. Later, when she forced herself to give birth to a younger brother, her already unhealthy body was damaged. Even with Lin Ruhai's care, she was still depressed in the back courtyard, fell ill, and passed away.
Second aunt, Madam Wang, seemed to have a cold heart. She ate vegetarian and prayed to Buddha all day long. She and Second Uncle treated each other with respect, but there was no love between them.
As for eldest sister-in-law and eldest aunt, there was no need to mention them.
In her life, among her relatives and friends, no matter rich or poor, there were not many women who were happy.
She remembered what Baoyu said in the past: "When you get married, you become a dead fish's eyeball." Although he didn't like it and degraded many daughters in the world, when she looked at it carefully, how could he be wrong?
She wanted to continue reading, but The Biography of Heroes suddenly ended.
At the end of the article, it changed into her uncle's handwriting. It could be considered to have completed The Biography of Heroes. There was only one line:
The Fifth Lady of the Liu family, afraid of the horror of marriage, left a letter to her family, and committed suicide by hanging herself.
She flipped further down, and it was all her uncle's handwriting.
Other than the records from ancient times to the present, there were different marriage customs from all over the world, and there were endless trivial matters. For example, one day she heard that so-and-so got married, and then two days later, so-and-so's newly married wife died of illness. Which relative or friend's wife was it? When did she marry into that family? What illness did she die of? How old was she when she died? What was her life like?
Some died for their husbands, some died of chastity, some died of illness, some died of incomparable pain while giving birth to a child, and drank opium to commit suicide.
Most of them were depressed, and died in their middle age.
Because the writing was vivid and detailed, it was especially cruel.
Daiyu already couldn't bear to continue reading, and directly turned to the last page, where only one sentence was written. Lin Ruoshan wrote:
This is my sin, and also the sin of the world. Henceforth, regardless of marriage, I will pay tribute to the Fifth Lady.
Daiyu looked again at the crooked poem on the first page, and then looked again at her uncle's strong pen and silver hook sentence. Suddenly she was unable to bear the pain, tears streamed down her face, and she lost her ladylike demeanor.
That night, outsiders cried bitterly in confusion. Daiyu quietly turned her mind to some unknown matter, but other people did not know.
Baoyu was also surprised. Daiyu's behavior was becoming more and more different, but her melancholy mood was also getting heavier. Often she would ask him some questions that he could not answer.
If he was momentarily stupefied, Daiyu would laugh coldly, and unexpectedly she would go back to study, ignoring him.
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